70,000 evacuated in China following typhoon threat

Xinhua Hangzhou, July 28 (Xinhua) Authorities in east China’s Zhejiang province Monday moved some 70,000 people to safety and called back more than 12,000 fishing boats as typhoon Fung Wong approached. Typhoon Fung Wong, which was lashing Taiwan Monday morning, continued to head toward the China coast, the observatory at Zhejiang said.

Fung Wong, the eighth tropical storm to hit China’s coast this year, is set to sweep across the Taiwan Straits Monday and is expected to make landfall between Xiapu and Jinjiang counties in neighbouring Fujian at midnight.

Fung Wong will be the strongest tropical storm so far this year, and is likely to strike along China’s eastern and southern regions with heavy rain and strong winds, observatories in Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces said.

The provinces issued the second highest alerts.

Ferries between China and Taiwan were suspended for at least two days because of the typhoon, said the Fuzhou frontier inspection station. Xinhua